Apple, Fig and Pecan Tea Bread

So it's been quiet here on the blog because I've had a bunch of cooking failures lately - mini muffins that turned out rubbery and burnt on the bottom; raisin, chocolate and oat biscuits that didn't taste that great (and were a bit burnt on the bottom) - FAIL!


See a pattern here? I really don't like my oven. It's about as cheap an oven as you can get. It has an element on the bottom that seems to heat up to about 1000 degrees until the top of the oven reaches the desired temperature. This means that anything in the bottom half of the oven gets burnt to charcoal. Oh what I would give for a fan-forced oven!


But enough whinging for today - there's cooking to do. In my box this week I ordered a kilo of juicing apples. These are apples that are considered "seconds" (but still so tasty!) so I'm cooking them up. Some will become home made puree for baby, some will become dessert, and the rest are going into a sweet loaf to have with tea.


This recipe was inspired by one on the side of a pack of flour - but I've changed it a little bit. It's quite a thick mixture.


300g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
125g raw sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
100g pecan nut pieces (roughly chopped)
1 grated apple (skin on)
150g dried figs
1 tsp earl grey tea (or 1 tea bag)
2 eggs
60ml light oil
60ml honey
1 tsp vanilla extract

Tea-soaked figs

Remove the stems from the dried figs and chop into pieces. Add 500ml of boiling water to the tea and add the figs. Soak for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Drain (you can leave some of the tea leaves behind).


Grease and line a loaf tin and preheat the oven to 180℃.


Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs, and add apple, oil, honey and vanilla. Mix the wet mixture and dry mixture together until just combined. Pour into the tin and bake for 45 minutes or until cooked.